Summary: Miss X complains the Council did not deal properly with her homelessness. The Council placed her in unsuitable accommodation, failed to complete a suitability review and placed her in the wrong housing band. Miss X suffered delay, avoidable distress and had to live in unsuitable housing. The Council should apologise and pay Miss X £6,600.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Miss X, complains the Council did not deal properly with her housing because:

• It placed her in unsuitable temporary accommodation;
• It failed to complete an assessment of the suitability of her temporary accommodation by February 2024; and
• It placed her in the wrong housing band since October 2022.

2. Miss X says she has suffered avoidable distress, delays, and had to live in unsuitable accommodation.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
4. If we are satisfied with an organisation’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

5. I considered evidence provided by Miss X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
6. Miss X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments before making a final decision.

Back to top

What I found

What happened?

7. This is a brief chronology of key events. It does not contain everything I reviewed during my investigation.
8. Miss X made a homelessness application to the Council. She was placed in suitable temporary accommodation in June 2021.
9. Miss X had twins in December 2022. The Council had placed her on the transfer list in October 2022 due to this.
10. The Council did not place Miss X in suitable accommodation for her increased family size. Miss X requested a suitability review of her accommodation. The Council did not carry this out.
11. Miss X complained to the Council. The Council upheld her complaint.

Analysis

12. The Council says that it, “..was proactive in acknowledging that the property would become overcrowded once the twins were born and added the family to the transfer list before their birth, however there has been number of failures since adding Miss X to the transfer list, beginning with the delay in updating the application to include the children.”
13. The Council accepts that:
• the property Miss X was in became unsuitable in December 2022.
• Miss X’s application was in Band D until June 2024.
• It did not add Miss X’s children to her application when it should have done.
• That Miss X would, as a result, have been unable to bid for properties with the right number of rooms.
• There was a significant delay in responding to Miss X’s suitability request review.
14. The Council has provided information showing Miss X was placed in suitable accommodation in October 2024.
15. I agree with the Council that this is fault. Miss X had to live in unsuitable accommodation for 22 months between December 2022 and October 2024.
16. The Ombudsman’s Guidance on Remedies says, “Where a complainant has been deprived of suitable accommodation during what would inevitably have been a stressful period in their life, our recommendation for financial redress is likely to be in the range of £150 to £350 a month. But we may recommend a higher monthly amount in cases where the injustice is exceptional or particularly severe. We assess each case on its merits and consider the impact the fault had on the complainant and other members of their household.”
17. In arriving at the remedy below I have taken account of the size of accommodation available, the age of Miss X’s household members and any disabilities or vulnerabilities of those household members.

Action by the Council

18. The Council has identified and implemented necessary service improvements as a result of Miss X’s complaint, including:
• Recruiting additional staff to clear a backlog of reviews.
• Amending its processes to ensure a housing needs assessment is completed prior to allocating temporary accommodation.
• Issuing staff guidance to ensure that:
1. Applications should be updated as soon as possible;
2. Applicants are able to bid with the correct banding and the correct number of bedrooms.
19. I consider these service improvements to be appropriate.

Back to top

Action

20. To remedy the outstanding injustice caused by the fault I have identified, the Council has agreed to take the following action within 4 weeks of this decision:
• Apologise to Miss X for the extended period she was in unsuitable accommodation. We publish guidance on remedies which sets out our expectations for how organisations should apologise effectively to remedy injustice. The organisation should consider this guidance in making the apology I have recommended in my findings.
• Pay Miss X £6,600 calculated at a rate of £300 per month for 22 months, as per the Guidance on Remedies.
21. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

Back to top

Decision

22. I find fault causing injustice. The Council has agreed actions to remedy injustice.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman